Star Trek: The New Adventures (IC Thread)

[LuckyVic]

Lt. Commander Torres

Marjia spun round in her chair as the voice behind her. "Ah! Commander! Thank you for getting everything so quickly. I'll get to work on them all shortly. Is there anything I can do for you in return?" She smiled politly up at Miguel, as she rested one hand on the phaser rifle stil propped up at her station

"I'll keep that in mind." Miguel said with a smile, but the smile quicly went away when he saw some red emergency lights popping up on the CEO's status board. "Don't look know but I think you've got some trouble." he said as he walked closer to the work station to get a better look.

From what Miguel could see, it appeared that a plasma fire had broken out in one of the engineering sub-sections. But that should have triggered alarms all over the ship. Something was wrong here, very wrong.

 

[Varshanka]

M'Chel Raica S'Tarr - Marine MSgt

"I am Lt. Connor Jace, and I am your contact between the people in the comfy chairs and the ones that do the work. As I said, my door is open. MSgt., when your ready I would like to go over some more in-depth tactical analysis."


****

Taking that as a formal 'request' S'Tarr snapped off a salute and grabbed her weapon, locking into step behind him.

****

Thankfully once the doors were closed it muffled the sounds of cussing, cursing, wooping, hollaring, and screams of delight. The squad would get to tangle with 8472, and maybe even some BORG.

 

[Screech]

Lt. Cmdr. Orsoth

Marjia span round on her chair and chacked over her console. Something definatly had gone wrong, and not a minor something, either! Mr Torres was right. "Ah dammit! When did this happen?! Plasma fire in jeffries tube 18J" She hit her comm badge as she lept up from her seat, grabbing her repair kit and an extinguisher "Engineering to the bridge! Reccomend we drop out of warp imediatly! We have a plasma fire down here!"

Marjia dashed around to one of the jeffries tube entry points, coming to a stop and pointing at a couple of engineering staff "You two! With me" She looked back at Lt. Comdr. Torres "Commander, I think it would be prudent if you make enquires as to why the alerts are not sounding, yes?"Without waiting for a reply, she opened the hatch and slid into the tube.

It was warm. Very warm. Made a very nice change from the enviromental standard nearly every other humanoid on this ship prefered. It seemed, however, that her staff wern't quite as appreciative of the heat.

Crawling as fast as she could through the tubes, Marjia could feel the heat growing the closer they got to the fire

 

[MilkManDan007]

Dr. Emma Watkins, Sick Bay

Beginning a new experiment was always an arduous process. Emma knew what she wanted to do and what materials were available to her, but she had always had trouble making the two meet. Her roommate at the academy was a whiz at that sort of thing, rigging up one thing or another to do something it wasn’t supposed to do. She shook her head at herself – it was her responsibility now to become that person, the one who could think outside of the box to keep those around her safe. The files on the Species 8472 toxin were quite detailed; the Emergency Medical Hologram program had done quite a thorough scan on the deceased specimen.

Replicating the toxin should be a piece of cake, she thought to herself as the medical replicators hummed to life before the familiar female voice of the ship’s computer came over the speakers in the room.

“Materialization failed – DNA encoding too complex for replicators to accurately synthesize.”

Fantastic. The easiest solution couldn’t be the one that worked. Now she was going to have to try and get inventive. The replicators balked at her next dozen or so attempts as she tried to get around each roadblock that popped up. It wasn’t until she nearly threw the PADD across the room and threatened to beam the pieces of the replicator into the nearest neutron star that the idea came to her.

The transporters. They had much more accurate matter conversion filters and might be able to do more than the replicators. Plus, their Heisenberg Compensators were more suited to replicating live cells than the medical replicators.

“Computer,” she said, tilting her head back slightly and peering up, almost wishing she could put a face to the voice. It always seemed so impersonal to just speak out into the room and have a disjointed voice answer. “Can you tie the transporter system into the medical replicators to better synthesize the Species 8472 toxins?”

The female voice answered with its near inflectionless tone.

“The transporter system can be used to filter and materialize the desired compounds when coupled into the medical replicator system. Probability of success estimated at 9 percent.”

Emma smiled. Maybe, just maybe, this crazy idea would work.

“Alright Computer, let’s try it” she said again, moving to the replicator station, “Use the transporter system in conjunction with the medical replicators in this lab to synthesize the Species 8472 toxin.”

She watched as the replicator hummed to life and the faint glimmer of the transporter activity could be seen trying to compensate for and filter the densely packed DNA sequences. The first batch finished and she removed it from the replicator tray and scanned it. The cellular walls of the toxin were decaying at much too high of a rate and the toxin quickly became unstable and broke down into its component parts.

“Well, if at first you don’t succeed,” she said. “Computer, continue to run batches of the toxin. Adjust the sensitivity of the transporter system inputs as needed.”

The message that crackled over the comm. system jarred her out of her focus.

“Counselor to Sick Bay, emergency in Engineering!"

Crap. Not even an hour into the maiden voyage and there were already injuries. And engineering injuries were never pleasant. She darted from the lab and reactivated the force field behind her before grabbing a medical kit and running to the nearest turbolift. As she passed through engineering, business seemed normal – no one seemed to be reacting to any emergency. Perhaps the counselor had been wrong. She made her way to one of the computer panels on the wall and brought up a more detailed view of engineering and the surrounding areas of the ship.

She almost missed it. A faint red dot in one of the Jefferies Tubes signaling an unusual plasma flow. She made her way around the back of the warp core and removed the small panel from the wall. It probably wasn’t an emergency, but she was going to check it out anyways. She wasn’t more than fifteen feet into the tube when the odor hit her. An odor she was all too familiar with. The same odor that had nearly cost her the career she had worked so hard to achieve.

Plasma burns.

She very nearly froze in her tracks. Could she face it again? The sight of someone burned that way, like he had been burned. She forced herself to go on, to make her way down the claustrophobic space to try and help him. The tube wound through the bowels of the ship, and she hoped she could find her way back without having to call for help. The access doors in the junction ahead of her opened and she felt the rush of heat and wind at almost the same time as the deck plates beneath her vibrated slightly. The situation was going from bad to worse in a hurry. The heat and acrid smell in the air only intensified as she moved through the tube.

She keyed her comm. badge, hoping to reach Lt. Cmdr. Orsoth and have her shut off the plasma flow to the area. The muffled double beep that came back from her communicator told her that the signal would not go through. Either she was too deep in the metallic belly of the ship, or the interference from the plasma fire was keeping a signal from being established.

The heat was nearly unbearable when she found him. The burns were deep, and covered much of his body. He had managed to crawl some ten yards from the plasma relay after it had ruptured before collapsing on the grated deck. There was a trail behind him, the remnants of the skin from his hands as it sloughed off from the burns, showing her where he had crawled. He was still breathing, but the labored nature told her that his lungs had probably been singed and he had lost quite a bit of blood.

The heat continued to intensify as the leaking plasma began to melt the metal grating of the floor of the Jefferies Tubes closest to the breach. Emma turned and threw the medical kit back down the tube and reached out to him. In the small space, it would be impossible to treat him, and she knew that she had to get him to Sick Bay as soon as she could.

It had been foolish of her to come into the tube alone, without even notifying the Chief of the possible fire. But now was no time to second guess prior actions. She managed to roll him onto his back and began to pull him through the tube and away from the fire. She continued to pause and toss the medical kit behind her and tried to get a communication signal out. She knew that as soon as she found a relay, she’d be able to at least assess him and hopefully get a signal to Lt. Cmdr. Orsoth about the fire. The smoke was beginning to build in the tube; a lethal mixture of plasma, fumes from the melted duranium, and singed polymer plastics.

Why were none of the ship’s alarms sounding?

The six grueling minutes of dragging him through the tube seemed like hours, but she had found a junction and nearly collapsed into it with the young ensign. She tapped her comm. badge again, this time receiving the acknowledgement that she was connected to the ships communication systems.

“Dr. Watkins to Lt. Cmdr. Orsoth,” she said weakly between fits of coughing. “Plasma fire in the Jefferies Tubes, just aft of Junction 18.” She reached weakly for her medical kit, but knew that she was in no shape to treat the burned ensign. She could barely breathe and was exhausted. The fumes were building and making breathing increasingly difficult. If she didn’t get out soon, there may be two casualties instead of just one. She weakly tapped her comm. badge again.

“Computer, emergency medical transport. Two to beam directly to Sick Bay. Energize,” she said as she sank down to the deck plates, her eyes drooping as the fumes built around her. She barely saw the faint shimmer of the transporter energizing as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

 

[MilkManDan007]

Nine of Nineteen, Bridge

As the docking clamps released, there was a slight tingling on the spine of the Borg standing at the Tactical Station. It was really the first time that he’d be back in the fray of things, the first time back out into space since the incident and his recovery. Was it the anticipation of the new adventures to come or the cold chill of fear gripping at his very being?

He pushed the feelings aside as his console alerted him to a message. Lt. Jace had been busy: the assigned weapons locker, plus two more, plus the schedule to train the security personnel in triage to help with casualties as they formed if an attack happened. Efficient.

The Captain turned his head slightly and spoke over his shoulder.

“When can you start running simulations?” he asked, emphasizing the need to plan for all encounters and to come up with possible solutions to any encountered problems. The final line of the Captain’s speech caused some puzzlement for his Tactical Officer. “Kick their asses hard, Nine.”

Nine of Nineteen saw Species 8472 not as a hated rival, but more of a puzzle to be unlocked. Where the Borg had failed, perhaps they would succeed.

“I will being running tactical simulations as soon as we have cleared McKinley station, Sir,” he said as he began to run a series of internal checks as the ship accelerated to warp. His board remained mostly clear, a few small warnings here and there that were of little concern: a slight atmospheric leak from a secondary shuttle bay, a 2-percent drop in plasma pressure to the port nacelle, an interior alarm in Cargo Bay 3 showing several cargo containers were not properly strapped down and had broken loose. He dispatched an engineering team to the shuttle bay to correct the first issue. They others could be dealt with in turn.

Then another warning: activity from the emergency transporters. Odd. No one should be using the transporters. He pulled the alert to the active screen.

“Captain, the Doctor has activated the emergency transporters and beamed herself and another crewman to Sick Bay,” he said, continuing to follow the proper lines of investigation. “The transport occurred in Jeffries Tube 18, near a plasma relay that is…”[/I]

The comm. on the bridge sprung to life with the voice of the Chief Engineer.

“Engineering to the bridge! Recommend we drop out of warp immediately! We have a plasma fire down here!”

 

[AmenRa]

Capt. Harper - Bridge

"Reduce speed to sub-light!" Harper ordered.

Efficient as ever, Lt. Reeve responded by bringing the ship to impulse power.

"Damage report as soon as possible," Harper said to his XO as he headed towards his conning chair. "Sound alert in Engineering, re-locate fire suppression and damage control teams to Jeffries Tube 18."

Harper touched his comm badge. "Lt. Commander Orsoth, advise your status."

The captain waited. If she didn't answer, his next order would be to scan and locate any lifeforms within the tube and beam them out. Next, he would order the tube sealed by force field and negatively pressurized. Plasma burned regardless of oxygen, and it would take a vacuum full of HP-114 extinguishing foam to put it out.

But his chief engineer was resourceful and forward thinking. She'd probably have it out within a matter of seconds herself.

And what of the injured in sickbay? First things first, he told himself. Once this immediate threat was contained, he would go to SickBay and find out how badly injured his crewmembers were.

 

[LuckyVic]

Lt. Commander Torres

Marjia dashed around to one of the jeffries tube entry points, coming to a stop and pointing at a couple of engineering staff "You two! With me" She looked back at Lt. Comdr. Torres "Commander, I think it would be prudent if you make enquires as to why the alerts are not sounding, yes?"Without waiting for a reply, she opened the hatch and slid into the tube.

It was warm. Very warm. Made a very nice change from the enviromental standard nearly every other humanoid on this ship prefered. It seemed, however, that her staff wern't quite as appreciative of the heat.

Crawling as fast as she could through the tubes, Marjia could feel the heat growing the closer they got to the fire

Miguel nodded as he watched the CEO enter the tube and disappear along with two others. Miguel was already barking orders to the engineers that remained, and together they bypassed the plasma flow. It would still take awhile for the supression systems to kill the rest of the fire with the remaining fuel. But at least the danger of it escalating even further had been stopped.

"Torres to bridge, I've bypassed the plasma flow. The fire is disappating, however it will still take a few minutes to completely die down. Commander Orsoth and a team have entered the tube to try and contain the fire more quickly." He reported. Even as he spoke he was already trying to ascertain what the cause of the fire was, as well as why there was no alarm. However he knew that chances were that it would have to wait until he was able to get a damage control team down there to determine what the actual cause was.

 

[Wolfsister]

Lt Lavinda Ecklas: Engineering

Soothing darkness covered her face, swept past her body and flowed around her toes. She breathed in, a deep breath that allowed her to better focus her chaotic thoughts. She floated for a time, breathing and feeling the velvet darkness soothing over her skin. After a while though, she felt the burning need to open her eyes. But she was reluctant to let go of the swirling darkness. But the need was too great, and so she opened her eyes.

Pain flooded into her body, wracking her muscles with spasms she could not control. Not yet at least. Her body shied at the pain as she gasped and opened her eyes fully, only after a few moments comprehending the fact that she was flat on her back while still in the turbolift. Blinking, Ecklas shifted position and groaned with the pain that invaded her mind.

Closing her eyes to focus once more, she entered the mind of the person she was so closely linked with. All she could see was reds, blues and oranges. Nothing made sense in the young male's mind. Him being human only made his confusion that much harder for her to understand. The chaotic order of thoughts and jumbled through his surface thoughts were nothing to the confusion of his deeper mind. She sought to take away most of his pain, groaning as the pain doubled in her own body. She knew, what with the efficiency of the crew that someone would get there soon. But for the moment, sending calming thoughts and taking the brunt of his pain was all that she could do.

Crawling out of the turbolift, she managed to first get to her knees, and then to her feet. Swaying somewhat, she headed towards the main consoles when she suddenly stopped, the young ensign's thoughts suddenly turned clear.

“Computer, emergency medical transport. Two to beam directly to Sick Bay. Energize,” Through his mind she heard the comforting, calm voice of the chief medical officer and visibly relaxed. He was in good hands. But until he got to sickbay, she would keep his pain in check until the doctor could give him something to numb him. She would probably think it odd that he didn't overley groan or complain - then again, he was probably very much unconscious by now.

Turning on her heel, Lavinda re-entered the turbolift and sent it towards sickbay. She had to get to the man - he was too fore in her thoughts for her not to get to him. The best she could do was ease his mental pain, but at least she could do something.

She entered sickbay soon after to find the doctor and the injured ensign. Trying not to get too much in the way, she hovered around. Checking on the both the doctor's and the ensign's mind. He was out - still in pain though she was keeping better control of it now. And the doctor... oh, the doctor.

Without permission (perhaps not the best recourse) she sucked the weariness and residual pain from the doctor's mind. Though her lungs were still damaged, at least Emma could now function. She only hoped the human didn't hold it against her later.

 

[Screech]

Lt. Cmdr. Orsoth, jeffries tube 18

Lt. Cmdr Orsoth had been crawling through the tubes for a good couple of minutes already, on her own now, as she had ordered the two engineers she braught with her to monitor and repair a couple of other pannels on the way. There was still alot of head, and with it a rather unpleasent amell was starting to make itsself known. Smelled like... burned meat.

The voice of the CMO came through from the comm system, just as Marjia reached a sealed hatch. “Dr. Watkins to Lt. Cmdr. Orsoth, Plasma fire in the Jefferies Tubes, just aft of Junction 18.” She sounded weak. Tapping her comm badge once, she replied "Acknowledged doctor. I'm on it" Hitting the hatch release, Marjia just caught the sight of two people transporting out of the junction. Hopefully that was doctor Watkins, and not a sabotour.

The acrid smell of burned flesh was getting quite strong now as Marjia slammed her fist into the auto-release switch for the hatch leading toward the fire. Immediatly, she was hit by an incredable blast of heat, and stumbled backward at the sudden raise in temporature. Sure, like all Cardassians, she loved the heat, but this was almost too much!

She could see the fire up ahead. Already it was dying down. Probably thanks to someone in engineering, even though she could have shut off the flow manually in the tube. The floor grating looked as if it had started to melt, and then cool, and there were small, blackened patches all along it. It would be at least another minute before she could get close enough to the rupture to do anything...

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Lt. Connor Jace

I smiled when I heard the whooping & hollaring through the closed doors. Kids. They would learn as they got older. I started walking to the turbolifts, MSgt. S'tarr falling in beside me.

"I want to work on some joint exercises with your marines and my security personnel. I don't believe you will be going dirtside, but sweep and clear of Starbase Gamma and quite possibly alien ships is something we should train for, as well as suit combat. I'll be honest, while Voyager brought back some good hard data, we still know very little about these guys, and they can be..." I felt the ship shudder, as if we did a emergency drop from warp. Unless we somehow found a wormhole nobody told Starfleet about, we should be nowhere near dropping from warp!

I slapped my comlink "Jace to bri.."(damnit! I was NOT the tactical officer of this ship!) "Security, whats going on?"

"Sir, Engineering is reporting a plasma fire in jeffries tube 18. We have had one emergency medical transport and engineering personnel are en route to get it under control."

I paused a second. "All notifications been made?"

"Negative Sir. Engineering notified us, our board is still green, along with engineering and the bridge. We were the last to know."


This did not feel right at all.

"I want two six man armed teams in the shuttle bay, a four man team in transporter rooms one and two, and four more roving four man teams. Every team is to have one heavy weapon in it. Double the two man teams on every deck, and send another four man team to Sick Bay."

"Aye sir, on it"

I then turned to the Marine MSgt. beside me. "I want you to get four fire teams outfitted for shipboard combat, and one heavy weapons team. Send one team to engineering, one to the bridge and one fire team to Transporter room one and the heavy weapons team to Transporter room two. The last fire team I want in the Hanger. I want all the escape routes locked down, and a squad of marines will do nicely for that. Keep sharp, species 8472 is advanced enough to bio-engineer themselves to look like us. This may be nothing, but if it's sabotage then I want us ready for it. I'll be heading to Security. Coordinate from there or with Commander Nine on the bridge."

I didn't wait for a answer, I turned and ran for the turbolift down the hall.

"Security Center." I said and the turbolift whisked me away. Once there I walked in and went through the controlled chaos and into my office. First I sent off a status report to Nine, with copies to the Captain and XO. Then I began bringing up screens and monitoring whats going on.

 

[Varshanka]

M'Chel Raica S'Tarr - Marine MSgt

Snapping a salute as the Lieutenant wlaked off M'Chel tapped her commbadge. "Marines, listen up." Switching to morse code she began tapping instructions. Asisgning troops and sqauds in manners she believed to be most efficient and practical. Adding a fifth fire steam she assigned it to Sick bay. if sabotage was in prgress, killing doctors would cripple the ship as fast as a damaged Engine core.

Stopping off at the armoury she grabbed her own battlegear. Designed for hostile/deep space environmets it sealed with a hiss as it pressurized. The hud display actived and she turned her head, identifying marines and fleeters by biosignatures and facial recognition software. No ranks or names marked the armour, just call signs.

Minutes later she stepped off the Turbo lift, her squad moving to predesignated locations around the bridge walls. Out of the way of Fleet, but ready to strike if needed.

Saluting the Captain she said nothing. No words were needed.

 

[AmenRa]

Captain Harper listened to the reports coming in. He was especially interested in the last posted report from Mr. Torres, the Operations Officer. With the plasma flow re-routed, the fire damage was controlled.

The ship was going to be okay.

Harper turned to Commander Raan.

"Make sure the Engineering teams are supplemented with additional personell as needed. As soon as the warp engines come back on-line, get us back to speed," he told her. "I'm going to Sick Bay. You have the conn."

The senior enlisted NCO of the ship's Hazard Team was exiting the turbo lift as Harper was about to enter it. She saluted him.

Harper, however, held his right hand up in the parted-finger greeting gesture so familiar to Vulcans. He did this not to be profound, or to show his knowledge of that culture, but because the customs of the Vulcans were so deeply ingrained within him, he felt a part of them. And it was true, when he was a child and then teenager, he was a part of them.

Or at least a part of one of them.

"Kwon-sum glantau," he said to her. Always watching. Always vigilant. The Marines were always ready, always prepared.

Harper entered the turbo lift and told it to take him to Sick Bay.

 

[LuckyVic]

Lt. Commander Torres- Engineering

Miguel had stay in Engineering and continued to monitor Orsoth's progress. The fire supression force field's still hadn't kicked. Which meant they weren't detecting the fire or they had been damaged. He could already see that the ambiant heat in the section was dropping, so diverting the flow had worked. Which was good, meant the chances of losing the ship had just dropped dramatically. So long as nothing happened to restart the fire, things should be back to normal shortly. Or so he hoped.

 

[Screech]

Lt. Cmdr. Orsoth, Jeffries tube 18

The heat had lowered to a more manageable level. Marjia breathed a sigh of releif. If not only the alarm sensors wern't operating, that would be an easy fix. However, it seemed as if the fire supression system was down, too. God thing she braught an extinguisher with her. Taking a deep breath, she crawled into the scorched tube, green flames still visable furthur in.

It was only a short crawl, but the heat level rose sharply the closer she got to the fire. Again, not too hot now, thanks to the actons from engineering, but hot enough to be... uncomfortable. At least most of the smoke had cleared, just a thin veil clinging to the tube ceiling. Aiming the extingisher at the fire, Marjia pressed the trigger, letting the supressant coat the flames, and the conduit. In a mater of moments, the fire was out.

Marjia leaned back against the wall and breathed heavilly for a moment before hitting her comm badge. "Orsoth to the bridge. Fire has been contained. I'll start repairs shortly. Orsoth out" She wiped her brow. She was sweating alright. At the very least, she'd need a change of uniform after this. She his her badge again. "Orsoth to engineering. Reroute all plasma flows through junctions eight, nine, and 10. Should get us warp 5 ntil I can get this conduit repaired"

 

[LuckyVic]

Lt. Commander Torres- Sickbay

"Orsoth to engineering. Reroute all plasma flows through junctions eight, nine, and 10. Should get us warp 5 ntil I can get this conduit repaired"

"Roger that Commander. I'll inform the Captain personally. I've already transfered all the internal sensor data to the science lab where I'm working. If I find something I'll let you know." he told her.

"Computer what's the current location of Captain Harper?"

"The Captain is currently in sickbay." came the unemotional reply.

That's exactly what Miguel had thought, but he wanted to make sure first. He then left Engineering to the engineering staff. He was sure they probably were happy at that. Even though those in ops worked closely with the Engineering staff, they were still two different departments.

When Miguel got off the turbolift he made his way to sickbay. He noticed at engineering that there was increased pressence of security, especially Marines. He noticed the same thing when he arrived at sickbay He walked up to one of them "Is the Captain still here?" he asked one of the Marines in battle armor.

 

[AmenRa]

Capt. Harper - Sick Bay

Harper made his way through the entrance and receiving area of Sick Bay. He stopped a few times, speaking to some of the Marines now standing guard in the designated "ship critical areas".

He waited outside the Emergency Treatment Center, where his Chief Medical Officer had beamed with a casualty.

Harper was standing square-shouldered, like he always did, back straight and feet firmly planted. In the atmosphere of emergency, in this time of near-disaster, Harper wanted to portray an image of strength and support.

He depended on every person aboard this vessel.

They depended on him.

John heard Mr. Torres' voice just outside asking for him. Harper raised his own voice above the medical techs and injured crewmen.

"In here, Miguel," he said.

 

[LuckyVic]

Lt. Commander Torres- Sickbay

Before the Marine could even say anything the Captain had called out to him. Miguel hadn't realized that his hearing was that good. Miguel walked into sickbay and over to where the Captain was. "Sir the fire is contained, Commander Orsoth is beginning repairs. We've been able to reroute the plasma flow, so you can go back to warp on your order. She does however recommend you do not push things past warp 5, until she can finish the repairs." Miguel told his commanding officer.

 

[AmenRa]

Capt. Harper - Sick Bay

Before the Marine could even say anything the Captain had called out to him. Miguel hadn't realized that his hearing was that good. Miguel walked into sickbay and over to where the Captain was. "Sir the fire is contained, Commander Orsoth is beginning repairs. We've been able to reroute the plasma flow, so you can go back to warp on your order. She does however recommend you do not push things past warp 5, until she can finish the repairs." Miguel told his commanding officer.

"Outstanding," Harper stated. "Relay that information to Commander Raan in CIC," he added.

Harper then stepped closer to Torres. "I'm going to be here for a bit waiting to see what the status is with our casualty. I'd like you on the bridge, coordinating with Security and Tactical until our alert status is over. Also, I need a list of everyone who was involved in stopping the fire, repairing the damage, and getting this ship back together.

"You've all performed exceptionally. Not that I expected anything less, but you've made your captain proud today," Harper finished with a smile.

He only hoped they performed equally as well in the coming days.

 

[LuckyVic]

Lt. Commander Torres- Sickbay

"Outstanding," Harper stated. "Relay that information to Commander Raan in CIC," he added.

Harper then stepped closer to Torres. "I'm going to be here for a bit waiting to see what the status is with our casualty. I'd like you on the bridge, coordinating with Security and Tactical until our alert status is over. Also, I need a list of everyone who was involved in stopping the fire, repairing the damage, and getting this ship back together.

"You've all performed exceptionally. Not that I expected anything less, but you've made your captain proud today," Harper finished with a smile.

He only hoped they performed equally as well in the coming days.

Miguel nodded. "I also had the internal sensor data transfered to the science lab were I was working on that prototype. We still don't know how that plasma fire started, or why. I was going to look that information over. But if you want me on the bridge instead, I'll just have one of my staff begin the review." he told them. He didn't want come out and say he'd rather go to the lab. He felt time was short, he had a possible weapon that they still needed to work on, and now this accident. It was a lot of work and not a lot of time to do it in. He didn't feel right leaving it all to others.

 

[AmenRa]

Miguel nodded. "I also had the internal sensor data transfered to the science lab were I was working on that prototype. We still don't know how that plasma fire started, or why. I was going to look that information over. But if you want me on the bridge instead, I'll just have one of my staff begin the review." he told them. He didn't want come out and say he'd rather go to the lab. He felt time was short, he had a possible weapon that they still needed to work on, and now this accident. It was a lot of work and not a lot of time to do it in. He didn't feel right leaving it all to others.

"Wait a second," Harper said, stopping him from leaving. "You stick to what you're doing. You can coordinate any information you need to from the lab. And you can assign assistance personnel to you as you need. We're not short on resources, yet, and I'm sure Commander Raan has a handle on the bridge right now. We need that weapon operational, and you know what needs to be done. Make it happen."

Harper was glad Torres spoke up. The last thing the captain wanted to do was waste personnel resources by not having his people where they needed to be. If Miguel hadn't reminded him, that's exactly what would have happened.

 

[LuckyVic]

Lt. Commander Torres- Sickbay

Miguel's eyes lit up, the more he was with this man, the more he found that he liked him. "Aye Captain." Was all that he said as he turned around to leave sickbay, however he promised himself that he wouldn't let his CO down. After he exited Sickbay, and he heard the doors close behind him he turned to the Marine that he had spoken to earlier. He couldn't see any rank insignia on it so he couldn't tell what to call it. So as before he chose the easiest form of address he could think of. "Marine I'm working on a project for the Captain in science lab 2. I could use your expertise, or that of your most experienced non-com. Whoever is avaliable."

 

[Varshanka]

A Marine

"I'll communicate your request to the Master Sergeant, Sir. I'm sure someone will be assigned to assist you and will meet you in Sci Lab 2." The trooper replied, the voice sounding more synthesized than anything else.

Anther than speaking the trooper never moved, not a twitch, not a shifting of posture. It was more like a statue than anything else.

 

[MilkManDan007]

Nine of Nineteen, Holodeck 2

Nine stood at his station, monitoring the situation with the plasma conduit remotely. The fire was out and engineering teams were working to reroute the plasma flow. An alert crossed his screen.

Jace.

He had dispatched armed combat and security teams throughout the ship. Efficient. With no alarms and no warnings before or during the breach, it could be anything: an electrical malfunction, a sensor failure, or even sabotage. Better to not take any chances.

“Commander Raan, the Captain requested I run tactical simulations regarding our possible contact with Species 8472. I will be running my simulations on Holodeck 2.”

He turned from his station and made his way to the Holodecks on Deck 7. He stood at the control panel for some time, inputting the relevant data on Species 8472 and the proposed tactical responses that he had planned before stepping through the doors and initiating the program.

“Computer, run Species 8472 boarding program Alpha.”

The room around him began to transform as the energy-matter converters hummed to life, creating a visual and physical interactive simulation of the Arizona before him. The internal lighting signified that a Red Alert had been sounded. The program began to run as Nine walked the ship, observing the reaction of the programmed crew.

The hum of the emergency force fields filled the air as the invader moved into the corridor. It paused at the first force field, testing it with a claw before simply moving through it. Its bioelectric field disrupted the field enough to pass through with little more effect than a mild tingling in the skin.

It had come aboard near the connection point between the saucer section and the main hull and had made its way nearly unimpeded to the medical decks. The marine team at the end of the corridor saw the first of the Species 8472 boarders and began to bark out orders.

“Computer, release Species 8472 toxin! Deck 11, Section 9!”

There was a light hum as the site-to-site transporters filled the section between two force fields with the synthesized toxins. Species 8472 saw and heard the marines and charged, breaking through the force fields with ease as it made its way down the corridor.

As it entered Section 9, it paused and reared up, emitting a primal scream before collapsing to the deck. It twitched lightly and then was still. The marines began to cheer and relay the news throughout the ship that the toxin was a success.

Their jubilation was cut short as they felt the ship rock violently to port.

“Computer, what the hell was that?” barked the lead marine.

“Species 8472 toxin has breached computer panels … mal … error … bio-neural circuitry …in…dam…failing. Inertial dampers off line.”

“Shit,” said Sgt. Miller to himself as the ship lurched again, more violently and knocking the marines to the deck. “Sgt. Miller to Captain Harper! The toxins are in the computer! Shut it down before…”

His cries were cut short as the toxins began to dissolve the bio-neural gel packs that formed the heart of the ship’s computer system. The computer began to malfunction, systems crossing one another and failures began to pop up throughout the ship as the process accelerated. The replicators in the captain’s quarters spit out nearly 30,000 chocolate-covered hammers before shorting out and exploding into the room; the transporters beamed everything on Deck 4, including crew, furniture, bulkheads, even the carpeting nearly 100 kilometers into space, and the warp core activated, jumping the ship immediately to Warp 8. Without the inertial dampers on-line, this proved fatal to everyone on board. The ship continued to jump in and out of warp until it collided with a small moon nearly six minutes later.

The simulation faded and the room was returned to the standby grid. Nine of Nineteen did not react, but simply noted in his PADD to place force fields around the computer panels and sever any panel in the system automatically if the toxin was released nearby.

Computer, run Species 8472 boarding program Beta,” he said, returning the PADD to his side. The room around him came alive again, reconfiguring itself into the cargo areas on Deck 17.

“God damn it Willy, form up! He’s coming this way!” came the cry from a marine as gunfire erupted from a nearby cargo bay. The invader moved quickly down the hallway, closing the distance with the marines with incredible speed. Their rifles rose in unison and barked out, the deafening echoes ringing through the enclosed space.

The TR-116 rifles spat out short plumes of flame and smoke as the explosive charges propelled the shells from the barrel before dematerializing them mere milliseconds after being discharged. Several of the shells rematerialized behind the intruder, ricocheting off the walls and embedding themselves in the corridor floor and ceiling. Species 8472 rose up in front of the marines, turning its torso and lashing at them savagely with its wide claws.

It was an attack unlike any of the marines had seen before. It killed not for food, not for revenge or hatred, it killed only to kill. The claws moved effortlessly through their armor and one marine was thrown nearly the length of the cargo bay as the claw found purchase on his clavicle and lifted him from the deck. His screams rang out, not only from the pain of the gaping wound in his side, but from the toxins that began to spread throughout his body, consuming him from the inside as he was left to suffer his last few seconds in the purest form of agony.

The squad fell back, firing again and again as the beast ravaged the two closest marines, nearly tearing them in half with its savagery. It turned towards them and advanced again at its frightening pace. One marine adjusted his rifle and fired a quick burst, the shells materializing inside the beast. The supersonic projectiles tumbled about, snapping bone and severing tendon and vein before exploding, nearly rending the beast in two. Even near death, the chameleonic beast clawed at the deck, thrashing wildly at anything near it. The marines advanced, continuing to fire until no movement could be seen and the bluish blood of the invader covered the deck. They checked one another and dashed into the corridor. The hunted were becoming the hunters.

The ship’s comm. was alive, barking out cries for help and status reports from the marine teams stationed throughout the ship. One squad had already been killed near the main shuttle bay, Species 8472 using the large area as an invasion stepping stone into the ship. Two other squads of marines had advanced from deeper within the ship to push the invaders back. The TR-116 and phaser rifle fire could be heard from nearly every corner of the ship.

“Computer, end program and summarize,” Nine said, the images before him fading away into the yellow grid of the Holodeck.

“Species 8472 reduced to 22-percent capability. Sixty-one enlisted casualties, eight marine casualties. Engineering compromised and warp power unavailable. Probability of bioship retreat is 80 percent.”

Nine made a note in his PADD to have the programming altered in the range calculation subroutine on the TR-116 rifle transporter systems to accommodate the movement of the target.

Computer, run Species 8472 boarding program Gamma,” he said, continuing with the nearly 20 simulations he was planning to run before reporting to the captain.

 

[MilkManDan007]

Chief Medical Officer Emma Watkins, Sick Bay

Her head was clearing, rattling out the haze and disorientation she had been feeling in the Jeffries Tube. Her staff was busy around her as she sat against the wall and organized her thoughts. Her head was clearing much too quickly, even with a hypospray, she should still be feeling woozy. The scratchiness in her chest from the fumes was still there, but there seemed to be no ill effects on her mind.

She stood, bracing herself against the wall, and took a deep breath before stepping towards the ensign lying on the biobed. The medical staff was working to stabilize his condition, using the dermal regenerators to rebuild the damaged tissue on his arms, chest and face and placing the neural monitor on his forehead to ascertain if any brain damage had occurred.

His burns. They were just like the ones that had killed her Nathan. The ensign’s weren’t nearly as deep or as extensive, but they would always be there, under the skin, to remind him of how close he had come to death. She pulled a medical tricorder from one of the surgical drawers near the biobed and took a quick scan of him.

Something wasn’t right. The readings were off, just slightly, but they were all off. She pulled another tricorder and found the same fluctuation in readings. One tricorder being miscalibrated was a mistake. Two was a pattern. She glanced up at the monitoring screen on the wall and found similar fluctuations. The inconsistencies in the readings were small and seemed to jump from reading to reading; first his heart rate and blood pressure, then his neuralkinetic readings, then his respiration. They were small, but they shouldn’t have been there.

She seemed to feel more than notice the people around her, watching, waiting to see what she was going to do. The captain included. The pressure was on for her to act.

She reset the tricorder, focusing the scan to much more intense setting, and began to scan him again. She moved slowly, purposefully, and still almost missed it. Seemingly fused with his arm near his bicep was a small growth, roughly the size of a small flattened kiwi. It was fused with his arm, burned into his skin and she could barely discern where it ended and he began. She focused the tricorder on the anomaly and scanned. It did not register the growth due to some form of bioelectrical interference.

No. It couldn’t be.

Her eyes darted across him, looking for anything out of place. His uniform was burned, he was burned, everything was burned. But there it was, clipped to his uniform near his hip. She took another scan, confining the readings to identifying the device. It was of simple construction, a biopolymer shell encasing fluorosulfuric acid, a highly toxic and corrosive agent. She had to scan it three times to get through the interference that seemed to emanate from the casing. Her eyes went wide and she glanced over to the captain and scanned the ensign’s hands.

It couldn’t be possible, she thought.

The plasma burns were deep, but the chemical burns were still recognized by the tricorder. He had been burned by the same acid that had eaten through the plasma conduit. It was the only explanation as to why the chemical burns were more deep-seated than the plasma burns.

“Keep him stable,” she told the head nurse attending to the ensign as she moved to the lab where she had been running the Species 8472 experiments.

“Computer, compare the known data on the technology used by Species 8472 to the tricorder data from those two objects,” she said, almost dreading the answer.

“Tricorder data is consistent with the Starfleet records of the physical and biological construction of the ships used by Species 8472,” came the reply. “Probability that the scanned objects originated from Species 8472 is 98-percent.”

Emma leaned forwards and placed her hands flat on the lab counter, hanging her head and letting her red hair flow over her face to mask the emotions running rampant across her face. Betrayal, rage, terror, uncertainty. She stood and pushed her hair back, trying to regain her composure.

Deep breath, Emma, she thought, stepping out of the lab and back into the medical bay.

“Computer, beam the two foreign objects into Laboratory 2 and suspend them in a Level 10 containment field,” she said, turning to the head nurse again as she punched the commands into the biobed to erect a containment field around the ensign. “I’m putting him under a medical quarantine. Notify me immediately when he wakes up.”

She tugged her uniform down, crisping it as she made her way to the captain. He was still standing just outside of the medical ward, just watching the bustle of activity. She stood close to him and whispered, so softly that she didn’t know if he could even understand what she was saying.

“Captain, I believe we have a saboteur aboard, and the two objects I beamed into the lab are from Species 8472.”

---

(If anyone is interested, there is a full layout of the ship, including what is found on each deck, here:Sovereign Class Ship Layout)

 

[AmenRa]

Capt. Harper - Sick Bay

Captain John Harper heard all too well what Dr. Watson had just told him.

A saboteur. Here. On my ship!

His hands involuntarily clenched into fists as unadulterated rage coursed through him. And then the Vulcan techniques of control and calming came to him, overcoming the anger, the injustice. When he spoke, his voice was the even and quiet one of command.

"He needs to be questioned," Harper said. "How long before he wakes?"

He looked long at Dr. Watson, his eyes cold and distant, betraying no emotion. He knew she could see straight though all of that, knew her reputation as a medical officer, knew she knew him.

Regardless of his condition, Harper knew the man's brain was still functional. And that meant a telepath could access his thoughts. This was a serious breach of privacy, of protocol. But then again so was trying to disable and destroy a starship.

"Harper to Nine of Nineteen," the captain said, touching his comm badge, "please meet me in Sick Bay." Then he spoke again, "Harper to Counselor Ecklas, please report to Sick Bay."

Protocol was now satisfied. The Chief of Security was about to be briefed, who would in turn distribute information to his intel and analysis people. And, the ship's counselor, who just happened to be a telepath, was coming.

I'll be goddamned if They are going to hurt my people. No way in hell, not while I'm in command of this ship!